Keyboard Builders' Digest / Tips & Tricks
Soldering tips
What was the one thing you learned that would change the way you solder forever more?
Published August 27, 2021
@hackaday asked for life-changing tips and experiences – and they got some interesting ones.
Besides the usual tips on proper soldering (using a fume extractor, flux, tinning the iron tip, more flux, etc.) there were some funny and/or interesting entries:
- Always wear trousers.
- When it smells like chicken, you are holding it wrong (pic).
- Never try to catch a falling soldering iron.
- Using Blu Tack to hold components in place.
- On fumes
- Solder wire wrapped onto your finger.
The number of likes on this last one indicates this little trick was new for many people:
Solder wrapped onto a fingertip means the rest of the hand is available to hold things in place. Means I don't need clips to hold the board, usually --@regularfry.
And a related observation by Alan Yates:
You can hold components a lot longer than you might at 1st imagine without getting burnt.
This. Solder wrapped onto a fingertip means the rest of the hand is available to hold things in place. Means I don't need clips to hold the board, usually. pic.twitter.com/2YmvXqtAvr
— Alex REMAIN INDOORS Young (@regularfry) August 24, 2021
And finally a nice vintage third hand: :)
I use this "tool" my grandfather built me 40+ years ago to this day. Never found a more versatile 3rd hand. pic.twitter.com/5fGYqv9Sa3
— Marcel Wiget (@MarcelWiget) August 24, 2021
Published on Fri 27th Aug 2021. Featured in KBD #41 (source).
Related
Tactile stems
Tactile stem comparison by jk_pens.
Numbers in Pnohty
Pnohty 1.2 – an updated layout by u/rayduck with reasonable number arrangement.
Ergogen PCB testing
u/Alescito shared his workflow of testing Ergogen layouts by 3D printing them.
Travel case for Corne
Custom 3D-printed travel case for Corne keyboards by Consistent-Egg-3419.
Hard line hand wire
A hard line hand wire system by Nightwish612.